Friday, June 06, 2014

Everyone on the team expected me to go pro. In fact, they wanted to me to. I was obsessed with the draft to the point my teammates couldn’t associate with me after my starts. It got so bad that a teammate called my apartment answering machine in a fake voice and left a message: “Hello Dirk, this is Harry Rosinbag with the Kansas City Royals. I was just calling to talk to you about our interest in you for this year’s draft. We’re thinking of taking you in the first round and wanted to know if you’re interested in becoming a Royal, and if you’d take a flat $1 million to sign?”

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See I didn't like the article. The stuff about his growing up was heartbreaking of course but the way he talked about not getting drafted came across as someone with a sense of entitlement. I'm probably not being empathic enough but the way he wrote it gave me a sense that he felt unfairly singled out. I'm sure as an 18 year old kid, particularly in those circumstances, he DID feel that way and that's reasonable but he didn't come across as someone who understood it 15 years later.

Actually I should edit that. I did like the article, I didn't like the Hayhurst in the article. I think it's well written and probably very honest but I didn't find myself rooting for the person in the story if that makes any sense.

The cynic in me wants to say good "if true", but it's been up for a day without any of Hayhurst's old teammates coming forward to claim he was actually the son of the town banker, so it seems likely to stand up. RTFA.

I wouldn't quite say he comes off as entitled. Extremely bitter that here and there in the game there are gaping ######## who don't work hard and treat everyone around them like ####, that get fame and fortune and get to boss everyone else around by virtue of being extraordinarily talented and healthy? Yes. Definitely.

Maybe it might get nearer the heart of why Hayhurst rubs a good many people the wrong way to observe that no point in any of his writing does it seem like he likes baseball.

I like Hayhurst's writing, but I don't really like the main character. He frequently comes across as feeling entitled to more than he actually gets, and none too gracious about the difference.

What makes the article worth reading, IMHO, is not Hayhurst's character, but his parents, who apparently were a bit of a train wreck, but were proud that his accomplishments gave him a college education and a path to MLB, even if his "lowly" draft status didn't allow Hayhurst to satisfy his own desire to solve his family's financial problems.

Extremely bitter that here and there in the game there are gaping ######## who don't work hard and treat everyone around them like ####, that get fame and fortune and get to boss everyone else around by virtue of being extraordinarily talented and healthy? Yes. Definitely.

In his own view. But he's not always a reliable narrator. To me, there's always an undercurrent of bitterness that he doesn't get to be that #########.

Entitlement is a charged word. But read the "Hacking the Draft" article, and then think of every scouting report you've ever read on a short right-hander without exceptional velocity. Most probably, that report contains the words "Must develop a third pitch to be successful." In the article, Hayhurst could not be more dismissive of the idea. That's entitlement.